The Project

It's 10 years after the Gulf War and Speaker of the House Dewey Goldberg has been sworn in as President of the United States following the accidental deaths of his predecessors. But he soon discovers that Israeli Prime Minister Elihu Barzel may be backing a fundamentalist opponent. Concerned, he dispatches his journalist-friend Charlie Walker to investigate. What Walker discovers is a plan code-named "The Project"--a plan so compelling that it not only jeopardizes the president's chances for reelection, but also the delicate balance of world power.

Even though it deals with such heavyweight issues as the threat of a thermonuclear war in the Middle East and Israel's meddling in a United States election, this new thriller by a veteran Israeli government press officer and journalist has a cozy, down-home quality--rare and welcome in the current marketplace of blood and techno- thunder. There's also a healthy dash of the kind of sly insider's humor that enlivened the books of the late Ross Thomas. In this story we have the first Jewish U.S. President, Dewey Goldberg, and the tough, enigmatic Israeli prime minister, Elihu Barzel, who seems to be pressuring American Jews to vote for--and contribute to--Goldberg's opponent, a right wing Southern populist with some dangerous allies.